HIGHLY-RATED TEAMS TO HIT THE ROAD FOR N.C.A.A. TOURNEY

By MALCOLM MORAN

Published: March 8, 1982

Instead of waiting by the telephone, as they did in the old days, the top college basketball coaches waited in front of television sets yesterday. They had to sit through the commercials, with everyone else, to learn the final selections and pairings of the 48 teams that will compete for a spot in the national collegiate championship game in New Orleans March 29. ''Like the Emmys,'' said Lou Carnesecca, the St. John's coach. ''It's getting to be more and more of a production.''

What they learned was that in an era in which competitive balance is emphasized over geographical priorities, some top teams have to travel farther than they would like.

Of the four highest seeded teams -North Carolina, Virginia, De Paul and Georgetown - only North Carolina will open the tournament close to home. After a first-round bye, North Carolina (27-2) will play in the East regional at Charlotte, N.C., following its victory over Virginia yesterday in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

Virginia (29-3) was sent to the Mideast regional, and will play at Indianapolis. De Paul (26-1), the top-seeded team in the Midwest regional, will open in the second round at Dallas. Georgetown Goes to Utah

But the odd team out among the top four is Georgetown, which won the Big East tournament and the conference's first automatic berth. The Hoyas (26-6), who have tied a school record for victories in a season and who won their three Big East tournament games by an average margin of more than 15 points, will spend at least one weekend in Utah. Georgetown will play a second-round game at Logan in the West regional, and would play at Provo if the Hoyas advance to the regionalsemifinal.

With 31 of the 48 teams from the Eastern half of the country, some of them had to be sent west. ''It was a question of balance,'' said Dave Gavitt, the head of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's basketball committee and the commissioner of the Big East Conference. ''Georgetown gives that region that same kind of balance the two A.C.C. schools give the East and Mideast.'' Hoyas' Coach Doesn't Complain

John Thompson, the Georgetown coach, did not complain about the decision. ''There is no easy path to New Orleans,'' he said through a university spokesman, Jim Marchiony. ''So it doesn't really matter what region you're in.''

But lower seeded teams will have the luxury of playing close to home. Missouri (26-3), seeded second in the Midwest, could advance to the regional semifinal at St. Louis. Tulsa (24-5), which won the National Invitation Tournament last year, was seeded third in the Midwest region. After a first-round bye, the Hurricanes' second-round game will be played at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa.

Alabama-Birmingham (23-5), which was seeded fourth in the Mideast, could advance to the regional semifinal at its home floor, the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center. The Blazers are aware of the advantages of playing tournament games at home, since they were eliminated in the Mideast semifinal last year when they lost to Indiana, the eventual national champion, at Bloomington, Ind.

Last year, when Virginia, De Paul, Louisiana State and Oregon State were top seeded, there was no need for any of them to travel far. The year before, De Paul was sent to the west, where the Blue Demons lost in the second round to U.C.L.A. St. John's to Play Nearby

The irony of Georgetown's trip west is that Villanova (22-7) and St. John's (20-8), which were beaten easily by the Hoyas in the Big East tournament, will both play at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, L.I., a 30-minute drive from the St. John's campus. Boston College (19-9), the fourth Big East team in the tournament, will open in the Midwest regional game at Dallas.

''I can just take a bus, and we're there,'' said Carnesecca of St. John's. In the last six years, the Redmen have played tournament games against Indiana at South Bend, Ind., Duke at Raleigh, N.C., and Purdue at West Lafayette, Ind. ''Just think where we went,'' Carnesecca said. ''Indiana, Purdue, Oral Roberts, Carolina. Right? And now, the bus ride. How much is it? Seventy-five cents?''

When Carnesecca did not hear anything by telephone by 5 P.M., he thought the Redmen would not receive a spot. ''I sweated this out,'' he said.

The Big Ten and Atlantic Coast conferences will also send four teams each. Minnesota (22-5), the Big Ten champion, was seeded second in the Mideast. There was a three-way tie for second place between Iowa (20-7), Indiana (18-9) and Ohio State (21-9). The Hawkeyes were seeded sixth in the West, the Hoosiers fifth in the Mideast, and the Buckeyes eighth in the East.

North Carolina State (22-9) and Wake Forest (20-8), the losers in the A.C.C. semifinals, were both seeded seventh. The Wolfpack will play in the Mideast, and the Demon Deacons will play in the East.

Iona (24-8), which won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship, did not receive a bid. The conference, in its first year, did not have an automatic bid, and the Gaels were not included in the 20 at-large spots. Bradley (21-10), Nevada-Las Vegas (19-8) and San Diego State (20-8) also have to wait for spots in the N.I.T.

''Actually,'' Gavitt said, ''we don't have the best 48. But we're closer to having the best 48 than in recent history. We did not get many upset winners in postseason tournaments at all.''